Week 2: Very Late...

This post is very late—but better late than never, right?

The days are full, long, and often without Wi-Fi! But I am going to sum up last week for you:First, my professor came and observed me teaching a physical education lesson. We did volleyball with balloons (so students had more reaction time to it coming at them and it would hurt much less if it hit them!) I first had them warm up with some Go Noodle videos which they loved. We were up and moving and hot early on! Then we moved into talking about the types of hits in volleyball; serve, bump, and set (I hope Mrs.Goodman and Mr. Barron are proud of me!). We said the names several times over and I made sure each individual student knew it. Then we practiced making the motion followed by having each student practice the hit. Once we had gone through all of them we were going to pair up, go outside, and practice more. Soo…. we moved all the students outside (which is a feat for our students). I paired them up after several minutes because they kept following me (please imagine how funny this was ) and we were ready. 

They started throwing the balloons up and POP. POP. …. If the balloons were not floating away because of the breeze they were popping on the rough grass/trees that were around. Mind you I am also mid observation at this point, but like any teacher I adapted to the situation and we moved the party back inside. I had them all sit in a circle and we played with one balloon with the sole goal of keeping it in the air by hitting it. Since this was the first time the students had this instruction I was just happy that they were hitting it and understanding the idea of the game rather than focusing on form. The kids had a blast! It was so much fun, and they were laughing the whole

time. Even some of my female students who shy away from athletics were joining in on the fun. We reviewed and ended the lesson!

(Individual student practice of the skill)

(Showing the students how to bump)

My professor remarked that it was a great lesson too! I was very happy with it!

Then came Thursday and on Thursday we have civics class. I was having a conversation with my cooperating teacher the day before about my heritage, during agriculture (I will get to that experience). I told her that I was half Mexican and she asked if I would do a lesson on Mexican culture for their civics class. Of course I said yes! So, on the day of I told them about Mexico touching on the topics of geography, food, leisure activities, language, and music. It was fun to have the students and even the two teachers look at pictures from where my family comes from in Mexico and compare it to here. I always felt like it was very similar in regards to what it looks like and the resources available. They agreed. 

Now from previous lessons I knew my kids LOVE to dance so I was SO EXCITED (Just ask my roommates—I was singing & dancing at 6AM) to share with them some Mexican music and related dances. I played them a Banda, Cumbia, and Zapateado song. I showed them the dance move and then we tried it. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. The kids were moving around dancing, and even clapping & singing along to the songs. It was a feeling like no other to be able to share my culture like that. 

(Link will be added once the video is up--otherwise check out my FB videos!)

Dancing to Cumbia Music!

To wrap up the lesson I taught them some Spanish:

Hola: hello

Como estas?: How are you?

Bien: good

Mal: bad

Adios: goodbye

So now, sometimes in the morning, I say hola and they have a big smile on their face as they say hola back and the same with the end of the day when I say adios. I am really going to miss these kids come next Friday.

UPDATE on my friend, Fred:

Fred I think has come to realize how strong he really is. In the beginning of the week it was hard for him to transition from one task to the next, and when we took the clothespins or blocks away he would push/grab/hit to get them back. Of course I didn’t want to reinforce that behavior so if I could help it he wouldn’t get them. However, my teacher started giving him the materials without having him request them/ use them when he got loud. The tools are not being used the right way when this happens. So, we are working on not letting that happen. Overall however, Fred seems more alert all the time. He looks around now more and transitions easier. He even now likes to put all of the clothespins in the bag before leaving the room (this was before he chewed the bag up). Once that is done he leaves with almost no problem which didn’t happen before. So, to an outsider looking in it might seem like we haven’t made much progress, but I see that Fred has made a lot of progress. Fred also seems to need a fair amount of sensory regulation to be in a state of calm. I have found that he likes to be patted on his back/shoulders (when I stop he tries to place my hands back where they were), and likes to chew on things/suck his thumb. I tried to use some teething toys to try to encourage something other than his thumb but he doesn’t seem to like what I have given him so far. It’s a work in progress like always but I hope to discover his sensory “diet” before my time here is over.

Agriculture & Music class:

Agriculture class the first time we have it during the week is mostly book work/class lesson. While the most exciting day in my opinion is the second day where the students work with the animals. The students were able to feed the chickens, rabbits, and water plants. Some of the students are very scared of the animals they kept their distance for sure. My teacher actually came up behind a student and I have never seen him move so fast to get awayfrom her.

Music was also entertaining. The kids just melt my heart;
they were working on harmony so the teacher had two students come up and sing a song together to work on harmony. He picked some of their favorite songs and
the students were singing loud and proud. You can tell they really enjoy doing activities like that.I will try to post some pictures & videos if possible. (The videos might have to wait until I am home and have better internet!) 

(Music class!)

I think at some point I will make an individual post for my weekend trips!

Out of Many, One Education.